Fearless freshman Thompson makes impact for Stanford

Confident Thompson makes impact from start in backcourt

Updated 2:04 pm, Friday, January 10, 2014

One thing is for sure about Lili Thompson, the freshman guard who has started for No. 4 Stanford since the third game of the season: She doesn't sell herself short.

Her bio in the team's media guide points out matter-of-factly that she "aims to major in management science and engineering and plans to pursue a career as a corporate and tech attorney with an eye on becoming President of the United States."

"I'm definitely aiming to make a difference," she said with a smile. "Aim high - why not?"

Thompson was a 13-year-old freshman at Honolulu's Punahou School, which President Obama had attended, when she and her family attended a party to celebrate Obama's 2009 inauguration. Inspired by Obama, she set her sights on the White House.

"When I say I want to be president, that's real," she told a Hawaiian TV station at the time.

Thompson plays with rare poise for a freshman. She averages 6.8 points per game for the Cardinal (13-1, 2-0 Pac-12), who make their first conference trip of the season to play at Utah (7-6, 0-2) at 5 p.m. Friday and No. 17 Colorado (10-1, 1-1) at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Photo: Gary Kazanjian, Associated Press

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Lili Thompson, a freshman guard, joined the starting lineup for No. 4 Stanford in her third game. She has stepped up her game as Pac-12 play has arrived.

Lili Thompson, a freshman guard, joined the starting lineup for No. 4 Stanford in her third game. She has stepped up her game as Pac-12 play has arrived.

Photo: Gary Kazanjian, Associated Press

Fearless freshman Thompson makes impact for Stanford

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"I think confidence is key," she said, "not just the confidence I have in myself, but the confidence the coaches have in me, that my teammates have in me. It allows me to play freely and not be timid."

Beginning with a 14-point performance in a win over then-No. 3 Tennessee, she is averaging 11.0 points, 4.0 assists and 3.5 rebounds over the past four games.

"She's fearless," coach Tara VanDerveer said. "If she misses a shot, it doesn't bother her. ... Every day she's excited, a real competitor. From the first day she stepped on the court (at Maples Pavilion), she made plays. You're like, 'Wow.' "

The addition of Thompson and fellow freshmen Erica McCall and Kailee Johnson has given VanDerveer her deepest team in years and probably the most athletic team of her 28 seasons on the Farm. She says this team would beat last year's by 20 points, and that team went 33-3. Stanford didn't reach the Final Four last season for the first time since 2006-07; this team looks ticketed for Nashville, site of this year's Final Four.

Thompson's given name is Khaliyah, but she has been called Lili (Lee-lee) all her life. She is the youngest of six children; all of her siblings either have or are getting graduate degrees.

All of them were imbued with a love of reading by their parents, Gregory and Tracy, both of whom were in the Army engineering corps. Lili was born in Missouri but also lived in Illinois, New Jersey and Texas in addition to Hawaii.

"Early on, we told our kids we can't control where we live, but they have to blossom wherever they were planted," her mother said.

At age 3, Lili played on a basketball team of 4-year-olds; she was allowed to play because her dad was the coach. She had big plans in the sport from the start. Her mother recalls her coming home from practice one day and asking her, "Can you teach me to dunk?"

Her parents retired from the military in Hawaii, then moved to the Dallas suburb of Mansfield because her father landed a job there. Lili wanted a higher level of high school basketball than she had in Hawaii. She became an all-state player at Timberview High. She also played on an AAU team with Chiney Ogwumike's younger sisters, Erica and Olivia, and decided she wanted to follow Chiney to Stanford.

The university's application process is a time-consuming ordeal for most students. Thompson completed hers in four days, VanDerveer said.

Thompson's parents have since moved to San Jose to be closer to her. Tracy Price-Thompson is a novelist and has published several books. Lili is reading a memoir by Frederick Douglass, the ex-slave who became a key abolitionist, in what little free time she has.

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